Feb. 11, 1884: Chinese Cigar Makers in San Francisco Get a Win

February 11 1884, Chinese cigar makers in San Francisco, recently organized into a union, won an increase of $1 per 1000 cigars from their white employers. The white-dominated labor movement ignored militancy by Chinese workers, whom it largely considered unorganizable.

Rather than organize with them against factory owners, white workers organized against the presence of Chinese workers in the cigar industry. In 1874, white San Francisco cigar workers had created a “white labor” label for their product, one of the first widely-used union labels.

---